Progress on judicial diversity is better than people might expect – though the number of black judges remains a concern, the lord chief justice told peers today.  

Appearing before the House of Lords constitution committee, Lord Burnett of Maldon highlighted work that senior judges have led or are involved with to improve diversity on the bench. These include a diversity and inclusion strategy, collecting granular data on the make-up of the professions, mentoring schemes and outreach programmes.

‘The progress has actually been better than people might think,’ the lord chief said. Recalling when he was vice-chair of the Judicial Appointments Commission, ‘the main focus was on whether there was sufficient women being attracted into the judiciary’, he said. 'There has been quite a lot of success there. The reason I know that is not only from looking at the statistics but also because nobody is really having a go at me about that.’

The committee heard there was also a significant increase in the proportion of ethnic minority judges being recruited, particularly from south Asian backgrounds. There were ‘interesting’ disparities between different parts of the Indian sub-continent ‘but there has been a lot of progress there – not enough, but a lot. Again, I’m not being taken to task in private discussions about that side of things now.’

One area that remains a concern, however, is the number of black African and black West Indian applicants for judicial appointment, which is ‘very low’.

Official statistics show that the proportion of black judges has remained at 1% since 2014. The lord chief justice has previously described judicial diversity as a 'complicated business' requiring more than a 'recital of headline statistics'. He told the committee today that statistics from all the professions highlighted an ‘endemic’ problem.

He added: ‘There is an enormous amount going on. I’ve always been keen to ensure that what we do has tangible benefit. It’s an area where there can be too much of “well let’s just do things because we should be doing things” without actually focusing on the things that make a difference.’

The next set of judicial diversity statistics is due to be published in July.